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Star-News: New Meadows Mayor Agrees to Community Service After Criminal Charges

The mayor of New Meadows has agreed to perform 20 hours of community service—not as a volunteer project but rather in exchange for dismissing a criminal charge of using public office for personal gain.

In December, Julie Spelman was accused of having asphalt delivered and spread on her property by a city employee. She was charged with violating Idaho's bribery and corruption law.

This morning's McCall Star-News reports that 10 of the community service hours will “more than cover any time or expense the action incurred” and the other 10 hours are “basically for good measure,” according to Adams County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Robinson, who just took office this month.

It was not Spelman's first run-in with the law. In March 2012, Spelman was charged with misdemeanor battery when she slapped the city clerk after the clerk showed up on Spelman's doorstep and reportedly told her that she didn't know what she was doing when she ordered state equipment to be used to haul gravel and make dikes along New Meadows streets, which were quickly flooding.

Spelman admitted to the slapping when she said the clerk told her to shut up. Spelman later apologized for the incident and the complaint was dismissed.